


With the Firefly Lights, Do not Forget about Me

by Azura_Azurasan



Series: Atsuhina Week [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, AtsuHina, AtsuhinaWeek, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Childhood Sweethearts, Flowers, Fluff, Hotarubi no Mori e AU, Kageyama and Hinata are bestfriends, Kita and Shouyo are cousins cause why not?, Language of Flowers, M/M, To the Forest of the Firefly Lights, To the Forest of the Firefy Lights AU, Young Love, childhood AU, forget-me-nots, hotarubi no Mori e - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24664912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azura_Azurasan/pseuds/Azura_Azurasan
Summary: Intrigued by the story of his grandmother about a mountain god, Hinata Shouyo, at the age of seven gets lost on her way in the ancient forest while visiting his grandma.There, he finds a masked fox spirit, named Atsumu.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Series: Atsuhina Week [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777468
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	With the Firefly Lights, Do not Forget about Me

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to the Day 5-7 of Atsuhina Week: Childhood Au + Flowers + Free Promt Day!
> 
> This story is based on the anime 'Hotarubi no Mori e' or 'To the Forest of the Firefly Lights'
> 
> Enjoy~

**_"Time might separate us again. But even still...until then, let's stay together."_ **

**_F I R E F L Y L I G H T S_ **

"All set!"

Hinata Shouyo ran out of his room and down the stairs while dragging his bag and then stopped at the entrance of their house to put on his shoes.

"Shouyo, make sure to listen to your grandma, alright!" His mother exclaimed from the kitchen.

"I have always done that!" Shouyo shouted as he ran back to his room to get his hat. At the bottom of the stairs, his younger sister, named Natsu, hugged him to make him stop.

"Can I come? Can I come?" asked Natsu with her puppy eyes but of course, Shouyo wouldn't take the bait.

He answered coldly, "No." Then he made his way to the entrance again and put on his shoes, this time, for real. He heard Natsu screamed at him that she hates him which Shouyo answered by sticking his tongue at her. Natsu pouted at him, then threw a ball she stole from him, at Shouyo. He wanted to get angry at her, but realizing that it was his volleyball ball, he just shrugged off the thought and put it inside his bag.

He looked at his watch and shouted, "I'll be going now!"

He headed out of their house, then ran down the slope to get to the bus stop. Shouyo had always liked summer, the heat was stifling but he still liked it. Maybe it was because he was visiting their grandma every summer, or the memories he made at this season...or something _different._

After a few minutes of jogging down the slope, he reached the stop and waited patiently for the bus to come in order to go to the station, where he would ride the train. He heard the cicadas cry and watched the road looked like they were about to melt from the hotness of the season. He sat down, putting his bag beside him and looked at his watch again. "Almost eleven hours of travel to Hyogo..."

Shouyo first met him when he was just a little kid, age seven. He was still young...and stupid.

_**-15 years ago-** _

On a hot summer day, after Shouyo's grandmother told him about the story of a mountain god, he got really excited and intrigued, that he went up to the mountain of a god and got lost inside the ancient forest. It was said that the mountain was where spirits lived. After running around for who knew how long, searching for an exit, he got so tired and couldn't move.

He was sitting under an old tree and trying to stop himself from crying because of fear and loneliness. When Shouyo finally couldn't hold it in and started crying, he appeared before him.

"Hey! Shorty!" Shouyo heard someone exclaimed from a distance. Slowly, he shifted his head up to look around but he could only see trees, bushes, and more trees. Until his eyes stopped at a tree from a distance, he saw a boy in shrine clothes and was wearing a fox mask, but he could see that the boy's hair was blond.

"Why are ya crying?" asked the boy.

Shouyo didn't answer and just stared at him, then he realized that it a person. He stood up as quick as he could, running to the boy, his arms reaching forward. "A person! I'm saved!" he shouted.

When Shouyo was about to touch the boy in shrine clothes, he swiftly dodged him making the orange-haired child roll to the ground. The boy didn't bother helping him and just stared at him, face planted on the ground. Slowly, Shouyo got on his knees, then sent a scowl at the boy as he shrugged the leaves and dirt on him.

Seeing that Shouyo was actually hurt, the boy mumbled, "Uh...s-sorry." When Shouyo's face brightened up at least a bit after apologizing, he asked, "You're a human child, right?"

Seemingly confused, Shouyo tilted his head at him. "...huh?"

"If a human touches me, I'll disappear," the boy in the fox mask told Shouyo.

The orange-haired child raised his brows, repeating what the boy had said, "If a human...?" Then Shouyo questioned, "You're not a human?"

Still keeping his distance from him, the boy stood still at his spot. "I'm...something that lives in this forest," the blond boy explained.

"What?" Slowly realizing what Shouyo had been told, his eyes brightened and he clasped his hands together. "Then you're one of the spirits?!" he excitedly exclaimed, however, realizing another thing, Shouyo asked, "But what do you mean you'll disappear?"

Waiting for an answer, Shouyo stared at the eyes of his mask, as if he could see the face under it. Moments after, no answer came and Shouyo reached towards the boy. The boy in shrine clothes moved to the side, making the orange-haired child almost his balance. Shouyo looked up at him, quickly standing up on his feet, he launched himself to the boy. Of course, the blond boy moved away again, almost making Shouyo hit the tree behind him.

Shouyo narrowed his eyes, craning his head to the boy with meaningful eyes, then ran towards him again and again and again, while the boy would always just simply dodge his hands. When Shouyo thought he had the boy cornered, he grinned as he ran towards him as fast as he could, but when he was a couple of feet away from the boy, he hit Shouyo with a short but thick branch of a tree.

The sound of hitting something echoed in the forest, it wasn't even that loud but with this silence, you could even hear the whistle of the wind and the low rustles of the leaves.

Shouyo rolled on the ground again, twitching at the pain as he rubbed his forehead with his hands. "Y-You're really not a human after all..." he hissed, feeling himself tearing up. "No human would hit a child like that."

"To disappear means to be obliterated." Hearing the boy in the fox mask, Shouyo sat up, looking up at him, only to see the boy looking up at the sky. "That's the spell the mountain god placed upon me."

The forest was not that dense, so the sunlight could go through the leaves of the tree. Shouyo, still rubbing his forehead to ease the pain, just stared at him.

"If I get touched by a human, that's the end," the boy continued to say.

Shouyo felt guilty after hearing the boy said that. He removed his hand away from his forehead and straightened himself but he was still sitting on the ground. "I...I'm sorry," he said, bowing before the boy.

The blond-haired boy looked down at him, trying not to stare at the huge bump in the middle of the orange-haired child's forehead. Then he stepped forward and called, "Here, human tangerine." He offered the branch of a tree he used to hit him and Shouyo looked confusedly at the branch then up to him and to the branch again. Seemingly Shouyo didn't get what he meant, he told him, "Grab the other end. Yer lost, aren't ya? I'll lead ya out of the forest."

Finding hope, Shouyo smiled bright and wide, standing up, launching himself towards the boy again while shouting 'Thank you' and completely forgot about what the boy had just told him. Again, he was hit by the branch, rolled to the ground again as he felt the pain doubled.

The boy scoffed at him, "Didn't I just told ya...!"

"I'm sorry...I'm just happy!" Shouyo exclaimed, quickly getting on his feet and now taking caution that there was enough space between them so he wouldn't accidentally touch him.

"Hmph."

Shouyo walked in the forest with the boy in shrine clothes. Holding each end of the tree branch, soon enough, they found the path that leads out of the forest. As the two went down the path, Shouyo couldn't help but look at his surroundings. Series of lamps and buddha figures made of rocks and mossy were everywhere at the side of the also mossy stone path.

They stayed silent that was why Shouyo could also hear the cries of insects, but he was getting bored of staying all silent. "This is just like going on a date," he said without any second thoughts.

The boy huffed as he heard and remarked, "Ya sounded like a human girl."

Shouyo's head snapped at him. "You're ugly."

"Ha?!" The boy exclaimed, "Do ya even know how I look?!"

The human tangerine just looked at him as they still walked down the path. If Shouyo could see the face the boy was making under his mask at that moment, he probably looked annoyed. The boy soon sighed in defeat. "Fine...not a romantic one at that, though."

Shouyo grinned at him as if the boy was someone he knew well or his friend. The boy once again focused on the path again and mumbled but enough for Shouyo to hear clearly, "Yer...not afraid."

Shouyo looked up at him, eyes curious as he examined the fox mask the boy was wearing. "Of what?" he inquired.

But the boy just simply answered, "Never mind."

When the sun was setting, they reached a stone shrine and on its side were stone statues of a fox. Behind the shrine, there was also a small lake that reflects the rays of the setting sun. The boy suddenly moved away from Shouyo and walked towards the shrine, making the child look at him in confusion as he stopped in his tracks.

"Go straight, ya will hit the mountain," he told him. "Goodbye."

Seemingly Shouyo didn't hear the last word or he just intentionally ignored him, the child asked, "Are you always going to be here?"

As the boy in shrine clothes didn't answer, he said another question again, "If I come back here, can we meet again?"

When he had the feeling that the human tangerine would continue to bomb him questions, he decided to reply, "This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. Set yer foot within, ya will lose yer way and be lost forever. Ya shouldn't come here. That's what the villagers say, right?"

he boy was expecting a dumb answer from the child, but what he got was a bright smile from Shouyo. "My name is Hinata Shouyo. You?"

The wind blew, making their hair sway like how the trees and plants danced with the summer breeze. The dim lights of the dusk stroke on Shouyo's hair, making his locks seem to glow a little. Shouyo focused on the eyes of his mask, if he was not wearing that, the boy must be staring back at him. The wind blew harder and yet no answer still came. Shouyo realized that they were standing still for moments now and he started to step back little by little as he exclaimed, "I'll surely be back tomorrow with a thank-you gift! Bye, Onii-san!"

He turned on his heels, running straight until he heard the boy said against the strong wind, "It's Atsumu."

He looked back to face the boy and the wind had come to a sudden stop, but the boy was no longer standing there as if he wasn't there before.

It was almost nighttime when Shouyo got out of the forest as he still trailed straight onto the path he was told. He wasn't scared anymore for he knew that he would soon get to his grandma's house, but at the end of the path, he saw his older cousin and he would get home sooner than he thought.

"Shouyo!" Kita Shinsuke, his older cousin at his mother's side, yelled at him when they saw each other.

"Ah, Shin-chan!" Shouyo exclaimed, running towards his cousin cheerfully as if he didn't get lost and nothing happened.

Shinsuke also jogged towards him. When they were a feet away from each other, he hit Shouyo on the head with his knuckles. "Shouyo, you idiot! If you go into the forest on your own and get hurt, what are you gonna do?"

Shouyo trembled in pain, holding his head as he began to cry. A second later, he hugged Shinsuke and wailed on his chest. "Jeez, this child."

After a few moments of Shinsuke making Shouyo stop from crying, they began to walk back to their grandma's house and holding the hands of each other. Shouyo had finally stopped sobbing, but he was still sniffing and his eyes were swelled from crying too much.

"Hey, Shin-chan," Shouyo spoke.

"What? I am still going to tell grandma where you have been the whole day even if you begged," Shinsuke coldly responded that it almost made the orange-haired child tear up again but he fought the urge.

"Is it true that there are spirits living in that forest?" He asked.

"Who knows," Shinsuke simply answered. "That's what they always say."

The moment he felt Shouyo's eyes on him, he couldn't help but add, "When I was your age--"

"How old are you again, Shin-chan?" Shouyo cut off.

"Ten."

"Oh, then why do you speak like an old man, Shin-chan?"

"Do you still want me to continue or not?" Shinsuke narrowed his eyes at him and Shouyo pursed his lips. Shinsuke knew what he meant and began, "Oba-chan used to tell me how she'd always went to the forest with her friends when she was little because she wanted to meet the spirits. But she told me that she had never met one in her entire life, yet Oba-chan told me that she had a feeling that something was watching her when she wasn't looking."

Shouyo turned his eyes on the rocky road but Shinsuke knew he was still listening and wanted to know more, so he continued, "On summer nights, you could hear the sounds of the river coming from the forest. Ah, now that I think about it, I remembered that Oba-chan told me that she and her friends once went and had fun at a summer festival in the forest. But you know what? There's no way the villagers would've held a festival in the forest."

They got into a much better road and the sun was almost gone. "Shouyo, you understand whose festival could it have been, right?"

Shouyo nodded and Shinsuke smiled. "Do you want me to request to Oba-chan to tell you her story after we get back?"

"Sure!"

That night, Shouyo couldn't fall asleep after hearing their grandmother's stories of her childhood days. He tossed around on his bed, thinking only about the stories, about the boy and his words. He laid on his back, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling of his room.

_This is where the mountain god and the spirits live. Set yer foot within, ya will lose yer way and be lost forever._

He pulled his blanket over him up to his mouth then felt his eyelids getting heavy after doing so and finally fell asleep.

"Ya came."

The next morning, after waking up, Shouyo quickly ate his breakfast to go into the ancient forest again to thank the boy. Because of his excitement, he almost forgot to tell his grandma and Shinsuke that he would go to the mountain again. Yet, their grandma and Shinsuke didn't oppose him from climbing up.

There, in the side of the shrine, sat the boy in shrine clothes, still wearing the fox mask and hair still gold. He even looked smug because of his sitting position.

"I didn't think ya'd really come back." The boy crossed his legs.

"You..." Shouyo whispered, but because of the boy's keen ears, he could hear it clearly. The boy tilted his head slightly, expecting him to continue. "You actually waited for me!" Shouyo ran up to him, arms reaching forward like he always did and smiled as wide as ever. Once again, when he almost reached him, a loud _thwack_ echoed on the forest and he fell on the ground, hands-on his forehead because of the twitching pain.

"Ya just don't learn, do ya?" He put down the tree branch beside him.

Hearing Atsumu said that, Shouyo shifted his head up. "I was so happy, well I still am. I'm sorry."

Atsumu huffed at him, jumping away from the shrine and gracefully landed beside him but still quite a distance from him. Atsumu then asked, "It's a bit hot here. Shall we go somewhere cooler?"

"What?"

"Don't worry. I'll still lead ya out of here again," Atsumu told him in a reassuring voice and Shouyo quickly gathered the food he had dropped to the ground when he fell and put it on the plastic bag again. He happily nodded and followed Atsumu deeper into the forest.

They went up the stone path where they came down the last day. Ate popsicles that Shouyo brought as they passed a bridge above a river. He watched him eat, but Atsumu only pulled his mask up to his nose and Shouyo couldn't see the upper half.

Deeper into the forest, Shouyo trailed behind him, looking around, eyes full of curiosity. Then, he stopped short when he heard rustles from a distance and turned to the side but saw nothing. He went back on walking, but heard rustles again and halted on his tracks. This time, when he turned to look at the direction of the noise, he saw shadow forming from behind a tree and his eyes widened. The shadow quickly turned into something jiggly like a huge slime but with creepy big red eyes and the mouth that was huge.

"Atsumu." The shadow spirit spoke and Shouyo stepped back, clenching at the bag he was carrying. "Is that a human child? Can I eat it?"

Shouyo stared at the spirit, then Atsumu went in front of him as if attempting to protect him from the forest creature and answered coldly, "No. Shouyo-kun is my friend."

Shouyo looked at him in surprise, but the spirit spoke again and his gazes shifted on it. "Is that so? Then, human child. Please do not touch Atsumu's skin. If you do, I'll eat you!"

Getting irritated by how the spirit talked, Atsumu threw a small branch of a tree to it. Seemingly shocked at what Atsumu did, the spirit suddenly transformed into a crow and flew away from them.

"Oh, a crow?" Shouyo said from behind Atsumu.

"He's another one of the spirits. He transforms to scare people, but he's all bark and no bite," Atsumu told Shouyo as he moved away from him.

The human tangerine looked at where the spirit had flown, then suddenly screamed, "Amazing! This is so amazing! So, they're really real! And they go _whoosh_ and _wheesh!_ "

 _Whoosh and wheesh...?_ Atsumu looked down at him. "Just what do ya really think I am?"

"Don't worry, crow spirit and all other spirits here and even the mountain god! I won't touch Atsumu-san's skin! Ever! I promise!" Shouyo shouted in all directions. "Because he's my friend and I don't want him to disappear!" he added.

Atsumu sighed when he heard no answer from the human child and they continued to stroll side by side.

"Atsumu-san," Shouyo said his name for the second time. "Are you a no-face spirit or something? Why are you wearing a mask?"

"No reason," Atsumu stated with no emotion that made Shouyo pout a little. "Never mind me. Tell me about yerself."

That made the pout on Shouyo's face fade and his brightened up even more. "Are you curious about me?"

"Maybe. That's why I waited for ya."

With that, Shouyo jogged forward, going to where there were no trees, just grasses, and the sun was shining so bright.

The next day and the day after that, Shouyo came back to the forest. Those warm summer days, he ran and played all around the mountain.

**Author's Note:**

> Because I couldn't finish it before the AtsuHina Week ended. I was forced to cut it but I will later continue this.


End file.
